


Sherlolly Drabbles

by SherlollyDreaming



Category: Sherlock - Fandom
Genre: Birthday, Christmas, Drabbles, F/M, Falling In Love, Party, Romance, relationship, single parent
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-08
Updated: 2017-10-22
Packaged: 2019-01-10 17:59:47
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 12,087
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12304581
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SherlollyDreaming/pseuds/SherlollyDreaming
Summary: A few Sherlolly drabbles I've done between my busy workload. I'm hoping to add more eventually but I have no specific timeline for these. Hope you enjoy!





	1. Birthday Party

She wiped the underside of her eyes to catch the impending tears from trailing down her warm cheeks and placed her hands on the counter. She glared down at her phone…no missed calls, no new messages. She was halfway through releasing a shaky sigh when she felt his presence behind her.

“Molly?”

Molly turned her head quickly and gave him a fleeting smile, “Yep, just err…”

When she sniffed and was looking desperately down at the kitchen units for her next task, he stepped forward and wrapped his arms around her waist. His hands skimmed over the thin vest top around her torso and pulled her back slightly to rest against him. At the feel of his chest pressed against her back, her body slackened but her breath caught. She rested her arms over his and closed her eyes as his chin rest on her shoulder. He then tilted his head to the side so he could press a soft kiss to her neck.

“H-he-“ Molly’s voice cracked and he pressed another soft open-mouthed kiss to her skin to calm her, “he can’t even be bothered t-to tell me – to admit – he…”

“Listen,” he murmured, his voice hushed and his arms squeezing around her in comfort, “you know, more than anybody here, that today is not about him. It’s not.”

Molly, giving a slight sniff, nodding at his words, “Yeah…”

He hummed and turned her slightly so he could press a firmer kiss to the edge of her mouth, his curls tickling the shell of her ear, before drawing away and flipping her phone over so that the display was hidden. “Now. Didn’t you say it is time for cake?”

…

“Happy Birthday to you…Happy Birthday to you…Happy Birthday dear Evie…Happy Birthday to you!”

A round of applause followed, with Greg giving a whistle as Evie, being supported under her shoulders by Molly (who sat cross-legged on the floor behind her) leant forward and blew out the two candles on the cupcake.

John and Mary, both taking photos and videos with their phones on Molly’s behalf, beamed behind the screens at the sight of Evie’s grin being a smaller replica of Molly’s.

Everyone cheered and clapped as the candles were distinguished and Molly guided one of Evie’s fingers to dip into the yellow butter icing for a taste.

“Sherlock, dear, let me help you with-“ Mrs Hudson began as she lifted herself out of the chair at the sight of him starting to hand out slices of the main birthday cake.

“Mrs Hudson, sit.” John instructed with a smile, as he went to assist Sherlock.

“Who would have thought it, eh? Those two boys doing something so…so, well domestic!” Mrs Hudson said to Mary in a hushed tone yet still with a giggle.

Mary, who sat on the sofa closest to the armchair that Mrs Hudson occupied, grinned in agreement. She also grinned in amusement at the sight of Sherlock, who as much as he tried to hide it, kept glancing at Molly and Evie. Glancing repeatedly.

“Oh wow…this cake is amazing!” Greg commented, licking his fingers of excess icing before taking a swig of his beer.

“You have Mycroft to thank for that,” Molly responded.

“Mike!” Evie called out, bouncing on her feet a little in excitement and looked towards the door in expectation.

“He couldn’t be here today because of y’know “government stuff”,” she said in a silly tone with a silly pull of her face directed at Evie, to distract from her expectation, which in turn made Evie laugh out loud, “but wanted to contribute. It’s a honey cake, hence the bees on top of the icing.”

Whilst Molly had continued to explain to Greg, Evie had wandered over to Sherlock standing by the dining table cutting the main cake and grasped onto his jean covered legs.

“Molls?” John turned on his spot and raised his eyebrow, the full question not needing to be asked.

Noting that Evie had barely touched her cupcake for blowing out the candles, she nodded at John, “Just a small piece,”

“Right, Miss Evelyn,” Sherlock said and bent down to pick her up. Whilst perched against his side, Sherlock pulled out a chair and sat down, placing Evie on his lap.

“What do we need to say to Uncle John, hm?” Sherlock said, whilst smoothing Evie’s bee-print dress down to stop it from wrinkling too much.

“Cake please?”

“Good girl,” John murmured and dished up a small piece of cake on a napkin, plus a larger piece for Sherlock on a plate, before passing both over to their direction.

“Thank you,” Evie grinned.

“Lovely manners from the Birthday Girl!” John praised, raising his eyebrows at Sherlock. Rather than say anything, Sherlock simply smirked and took a bite out of the cake, to which John simply rolled his eyes before taking his leave with his own piece of cake.

Sherlock took the hand-iced bee off his piece of cake and held it out in front of Evie.

“While not anatomically accurate, what is this part of the bee called?” he asked while pointing.

“Wings,” Evie chirped before taking another chunk of her cake between her fingers.

“Precisely, and just how many wings do Anthophila have, Evelyn?”

Evie reached forward and pointed, “Two!”

“Hmm, you would think so. However, given my brother’s poor choice in unanatomical invertebrates on your cake, I regret to correct you that they do in fact have six wings,”

“Innie-brates”

Sherlock smiled and pressed a kiss to Evie’s head as she continued to nibble. His smile grew as he saw Molly walk towards them.

Mary grinned into the rim of her teacup and patted John’s knee as he took a seat next to her on the sofa. As John joined the conversation currently between Mrs Hudson and Greg, Mary’s eyes wandered over to the dining table where Molly stood behind Sherlock’s chair and was stroking her daughter’s loose curls as she contentedly ate her cake. Molly’s other hand, which was currently out of view, was almost certainly stroking the side of Sherlock’s neck.

…

“…come on, Hooper, use those muscles!”

At Sherlock’s encouragement, Evie managed to finally rip the wrapping paper around her latest present, which seemed to be covered in almost toddler-proof amounts of Sellotape. After her great triumph, Evie collapsed to a sit onto Sherlock’s lap as she continued to unwrap the gift. Sherlock adjusted his position on the carpet so that he could support Evie’s back with a firm hand on her torso.

“My, my, what on earth is in there, Evie?” Mrs Hudson asked, totally smitten with the little girl’s furrowed brow in confusion.

Molly touched Mike’s forearm to draw his attention away from Evie to pass him a coffee. “Cheers,” he smiled and immediately looked back at the scene in front of him.

“Thank you, Mike, you really didn’t have to-“

“Now what kind of boss would I be if I didn’t come and see your little girl on her special day?” Mike said and wrapped an arm around Molly’s shoulder giving her a one-armed hug. “Plus y’know what the Path team are like, any reason to spoil her…”

“Yes, that’s true.” Molly said truthfully.

Molly and Mike’s attentions were drawn back at the sound of laughing and clapping and the sight of Greg assisting Evie with putting on a white lab coat. Mary leant forward and after tucking her shoulder-length chestnut brown curls behind her ears, helped Evie put on her lab goggles.

“And last but not least,” Sherlock announced, “a clipboard for all your observations, Doctor Hooper.” Evie giggled, her little face screwing up from smiling at Sherlock’s name for her. She gave out a little squeak of delight as Sherlock poked her tummy after passing her a Doc McStuffins-themed erasable clipboard.

Sherlock looked up to see Molly giggling, her cheeks blushing and her eyes sparkling.

“Now Doctor Hooper,” Greg bent down and using a voice he used when approaching new cases, he wrapped a shoulder around Evie and continued, “would you like to help me with a case?”

Evie grinned and nodded her head so enthusiastically that her lab goggles bobbed up and down, “Yes, yes, please!”

“Okay…now, what we’re looking for is a bag. A blue bag…”

“Come here my love and I’ll help you draw it on your clipboard,” Mary said. Mary scooted to the end of the sofa and placed Evie, still standing, between her legs so she could look over her shoulder at the clipboard. Before focusing on the task at hand, Mary ensured Evie’s goggles were back in place and adjusted her pastel-yellow headband.

Just then Molly heard a knock on the front door. “Won’t be a sec,” she called out as she left the living room.

Molly passed the mirror in the entrance hall and did a double-take as she saw a wide smile plastered on her face, before running a hand through her loose hair and peering through the peephole. She pulled back, her heart dropping and a heavy feeling coming to the pit of her stomach at the sight of who was behind the door. A few beats passed.

“I know you’re there, Molly. Let me in,” came the voice from the other side.

Smoothing her vest top over and pulling her thin cardigan sleeves slightly up from her wrists, Molly took a deep, if not unsteady breath, and opened the door.

“Hello, Tom.”

“Molly,” he said cordially.

Molly’s eyes drifted over to the woman behind him, leaning against the communal corridor wall, typing rapidly on her phone. Her hair dyed a peroxide blonde and a tight red dress accentuating her well – quite frankly – fake breasts.

Tom seeing where her gaze had drifted, scratched the back of his neck, “Err…this is Suzie,” he gestured towards her, to which there was no follow up from her as she remained absorbed on her phone.

“O-kay…” Molly murmured, looking at the floor, which had suddenly become very interesting.

“We, I mean, I, can’t be long,” Molly’s eyes snapped up to his at these words, “We’ve got dinner reservations so…” Tom trailed off.

Molly scoffed. At the sound of this, Synthetic-Suzie perked up (no pun intended) and boasted, “We’re going to Le Gavroche in Mayfair, don’t you know,”

“Yeah…” Molly sighed with a contrived smile, “I hope you’ve got enough money to cover it Suzie, ‘cause he won’t.”

Suzie rolled her eyes and went back to her phone as Tom, with some agitation said, “Look, we’re already running late for our reservations, so the sooner this is done the better.”

“Oh by all means, if you don’t have the time for “this”, feel free to go.” Molly rebuffed and gestured down the corridor to the exit.

Tom gave a huff of frustration before taking a step forward and murmuring under his breath, “Molly, please?” Molly looked hesitantly up at him. “I just want to give my daughter her birthday gift,”

Molly swallowed and after giving a single nod, drew back from holding the front door closed behind her, allowing him in. As she went to close the front door, her eyes did another once-over of Suzie. ‘Guess some things never change,’ Molly thought to herself.

As she closed the front door, the living room had gone quiet. Molly decided to do the decent thing, however hard that was, and allow Evie a few moments with her father. This was not, however, going to stop Molly from leaning against the door frame and watch how her friends reacted.

“Hey, Evie,” Tom said hesitantly and bent down to his haunches. “I like your nurse outfit,”

Molly smirked as she swore she could hear John and Sherlock’s teeth simultaneously grinding together in annoyance. Mike, of course, too nice to say anything, simply took a loud slurp of his coffee.

Evie, normally responsive to anybody who greeted her, had no response except to put some fingers in her mouth, a nervous habit she had mostly grown out of by now. She looked down at the clipboard which was on the carpet next to her.

Tom gave a quick glance around the guests gathered and the bee decorations around the room, “Hey everyone, hope you’ve had a nice afternoon,”

There was a quiet chorus of “Hey, Tom,” from a couple of guests in the room and a very distinctive, low toned “Miller,” from Greg, who at that moment decided to adjust his seating position and drew back a lapel of his jacket to flash his police badge on his belt.

Molly muffled her giggle.

“So…err…I’ve heard it’s a special girl’s birthday today, so I’ve brought you a gift.”

Mrs Hudson rolled her eyes and shook her head at his pathetic, fake tone in attempt to entice Evie.

Tom held out the bright pink gift bag by the length of his arm towards Evie. Evie looked up at the man – well, stranger – in front of her.

Molly held her breath, not sure what she was afraid of. If Evie didn’t take the present, would Tom get angry or upset? If Evie did take the present, would she begin to favour Tom and eventually become disheartened by his false promises? With Evie growing up so quickly, would she start demanding to see her father?

Whilst all these thoughts whirled through her mind, her mind didn’t quite register fully the sight of Evie scooting backwards and then standing up, quickly scuttling to where Sherlock was. Evie cried out for him, “’lock!”, as she plastered herself against his chest, wrapping her arms around his neck, facing away from the stranger in the room.

Sherlock immediately wrapped his arms around the little girl and stroked her back up and down. He gently shushed her agitated cries and avoided eye contact with others in the room.

A tense, awkward silence fell over the room, only broken by Evie’s sniffles into Sherlock’s neck.

“Right,” Tom stood up quickly, “I’ll err…just leave this – here.”

John cleared his throat, “Look, Tom-“

Tom righted himself again after depositing the garish, pink gift bag on the carpet and interrupted him, “It’s…it’s…well – yeah,”

“Tom, it’s been a very long, exciting day for her, she’s probably just tired…” Mary said sensitively.

It would have been more tactful had it not been for the loud scoff that Mrs Hudson couldn’t help but let out at the end of comment.

Tom shook his head at the sight of his daughter taking comfort in another man’s arms…let alone his arms – that…that…freak.

As Tom strode out of the living room, he brushed past Molly.

Molly still hadn’t fully absorbed what she had witnessed before she followed Tom to the door.

“Tom? Tom! Just wait a sec-“

Tom whirled round from thrusting the front door open and faced her, “It’s fine, Molly. It’s all fine.”

“If…if you’d just spent a bit more time with her, maybe – maybe she wouldn’t have-“

“I’m done.” Tom threw his hands up.

Molly stepped back in shock, “W-what?”

“Didn’t you hear him? He said he was done,”

“Oh don’t get involved, Suzie, please?” Molly begged. “Try and keep some pride at least.” She added sarcastically before turning to face Tom who had his hands on his hips and was looking down, his legs twitching as if to run. “You’re just going to give up? I mean n-not even try to see your-“

“She’s not mine though, is she?”

“Well of course she-“

“No. She’s yours. Always has been. And now…” Tom trailed off and rolled his eyes.

“Now what?” Molly seethed.

Tom shook his head and held his hand out to Suzie, “Come on, baby, let’s get out of this…I don’t even know what this is.” He shook his head in disbelief as he recounted the recent events.

“Now what?” Molly repeated, the knuckles on her hand turning white from its tightening grip on the door.

Tom and Suzie began to walk down towards the exit. After a few steps, Tom turned around and said, “I hope you and Sherlock will be very happy together.”

Molly, now physically panting in rage, began exploding down the corridor. “Oh, yeah? Well do you know what Tom? My daughter is so much better off being rid of you. You’re a compulsive liar, a habitual cheat…you’re broke! And for the record-“ Tom turned around before descending the stairwell to see Molly stood out in the corridor, “I don’t need your permission and I sure as hell don’t need your blessing.”

Molly’s heart began to slow its rapid beat against her ribcage at the sight of Tom moving out of her eyeline. She let out a long, shaky breath and as she turned to re-enter her apartment, Mary stood at her front door holding out a large glass of wine.

“Drink?” she asked with a smile and a twinkle in her eyes.

“Yes!” Molly whispered, her voice a little shaky and grasped the glass with both hands.

…

“Mrs Hudson, Mrs Hudson…come on, let’s get you home…” John gently roused his former landlady as she had drifted off in the armchair.

“Hmm, is it that time already? Oh…can I just tuck in the birthday girl before we go?” She asked sleepily as John assisted her to rise from the chair.

“Of course,” Greg said, “I’ll bring the car round. Thanks Molly, it’s been a great afternoon,” Molly smiled as Greg gave her a great, warm hug before leaving.

“Have you got everything, Mary?” John asked as he put on his coat.

“Hmm…I’ve just quickly text the sitter, to let her know we’re on our way back.” Mary responded and quickly pocketed her phone.

“That reminds me, if Rosie’s feeling any better, would you still like to meet at the park on Thursday?” Molly asked.

“Yeah, course…you know I look forward to our little chats,” Mary smirked at Molly’s blush. She would be very much looking forward to this week’s…

“Bless her…she’s out like a light, all curled up to Sherlock,” Mrs Hudson whispered with a smugly as she came back through to the living room.

“Thank you for coming,” Molly said as she led John, Mary and Martha to the door.

“You let me know when you want to bring little Evelyn round for her present, it’s good planting weather for sunflower seeds at the moment,” Mrs Hudson said as Mary draped a scarf around her neck for her.

“How about this weekend? Saturday afternoon?”

“Oh, splendid. Simply splendid. I’ll make sure to make some scones and jam tarts too,”

“That’s not necessary, Mrs Hudson,” Molly smiled. “After all the sweet treats today, if I have any more on the weekend, I’ll have to go on a diet!”

“Of course it’s necessary, dear,” Martha took a step towards her and patted her lightly on the cheek, “You’re going to need all the energy you can get.”

Molly’s mouth popped open and Mary snorted as she started laughing, leading Mrs Hudson down the corridor. John’s brow furrowed in confusion and his eyes flitted rapidly between Molly, mouth agape in the doorway, and the two cackling ladies walking down the hall. “Err…anyway…thanks, Molls,” he said, quickly pressing a kiss on either cheek and striding off to follow them.

…

“Hey,” Sherlock cracked one eyelid open to see Molly smiling down at him. “Are you ready to leave Hundred Acre Wood yet?”

“Hmm,” he sighed softly and looked down at Evelyn curled up to his side, snuggled up tightly with a soft teddy displaying its own deerstalker hat – a present from John and Mary.

The first edition book of ‘Winnie-The-Pooh’ by A.A. Milne, a gift from Mycroft in keeping with the bee-themed birthday party, was already closed shut on Sherlock’s lap, a bookmark tucked in the place he’d reached before Evie had drifted off and her light snores could be heard alongside his words.

As Sherlock managed to disengage himself from Evie’s arm and stand up from her bed, Molly bent down and stroked her daughter’s curls away from her face and pressed a kiss to her nose, “Goodnight, honey.”

Sherlock shut the door to Evie’s bedroom quietly once Molly had made sure to turn on the monitor.

There was a tense atmosphere in the room as neither person knew what to say next.

“Do you want…a coffee…or…?” Molly trailed off.

“No. No…I err…better be heading back.”

Molly nodded in understanding. “Yeah, yeah…” Realisation suddenly dawned on her and she began to panic, “Oh my goodness! You weren’t in the middle of a case were you? Oh my- you’ve been here for hours-“

She was stopped in her ramblings by Sherlock placing a hand on her cheek, “I wasn’t in the middle of a case.” Molly let out a huge breath of relief. Sherlock drew back to shrug on his hooded jumper, which he’d laid over the back of a chair. “Even if I was, I would have come anyway.”

“Really?”

Sherlock paused zipping up his jumper and looked at her, longingly in the eyes as he answered, “Yes…of course I would have.”

Molly blushed and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear in nervousness. With Molly looking ever so endearing, Sherlock took a step forward and pressed a soft kiss on the edge of her lips.

The tense atmosphere in the room ramped up another notch.

Sherlock pulled back and cleared his throat as he finished zipping up his hoody and then gave a fleeting smile. “Right, back to Baker Street.”

Molly watched as he made to turn, “Y-you sure I can’t interest you in that coffee?”

She watched as he gave no answer and slowly and almost hesitantly began walking towards the front door.

“It doesn’t have to be coffee…” Molly continued awkwardly as she trailed behind him, the silence now deafening. Sherlock had just about reached the door as Molly made one last attempt, “It could be water…or…tea……or-“

Molly’s head collided with the wall behind her as Sherlock surged forward and trapped her with his towering frame. His lips connected to hers, Molly moaned as Sherlock’s hands ran down her waist, lingered tantalisingly on her hips before settling on her arse. Molly’s lips broke away from his with a sigh, her fingers kneading the skin on the nape of his neck, briefly brushing the neckline of his black hooded jumper, as he proceeded to feast on her neckline travelling down to her collarbone.

“Oh,” Molly let out breathlessly as Sherlock easily lifted her, her legs automatically settling on his hips, crossing over behind him. His fingers combed into her loose hair, allowing him to grab hold of the back of her head to guide her to reconnect her lips with his. A shiver of pleasure ran through her body at the feel of Sherlock’s tongue infiltrating her mouth once more.

…

Molly let out a quiet hum of contentment and smiled. She gave a soft giggle before it turned into a moan, her fingers digging in slightly to Sherlock’s clammy shoulders as he pressed open-mouthed kisses on her neck.

She couldn’t help but catch in the corner of her eye the levels on the monitor receiver spiking up to amber and red, her eyebrows furrowed slightly and gasped out a couple of breathless, “Wait…wait…” to Sherlock, pressing a quick kiss to his lips as she rolled slightly to reach out for the receiver.

Sherlock lifted himself slightly on his resting bent forearms to allow Molly to roll onto her side and reach the receiver, the bed sheet falling to just below his hips. He could not however tear his eyes away from Molly and continued to touch her; stroking her hair away from her damp hairline, kissing the curve of her shoulder…

Molly turned the receiver volume off mute.

“…’lock…w…wi…wings…in…innie…’lock…innie-bees…”

Sherlock disconnected his lips from Molly’s exquisitely bare skin at the sound of Evie’s sleep-talking.

Molly turned onto her back again and shook her head slightly at Sherlock in disbelief. She cupped his cheek, her thumb running along his pronounced cheekbone and smiled widely as she asked, “‘Innie-bee’?”

Sherlock’s lips pursed and quickly answered, “Invertebrate.”

Molly’s eyebrows raised, but her smile didn’t diminish, “You told my two-year-old daughter about invertebrates?” she asked as she brushed a stray curl away from his dampened forehead.

“Well had it not been for my brother’s poor choice in unanatomical bees I would have been able to visually show that-“

Sherlock’s sentence was cut off as Molly pulled his face down to meet hers, their lips reconnecting and tongues entwining. He let out a low grown as Molly lifted one of her legs upwards to then cross over his hips, pushing their bodies together. Sherlock reached for the receiver still in Molly’s hand, quickly switched it back to mute, tossed it lightly to the carpet beside the bed and, entwining their fingers together, pushed her hand into the pillow above her head.

…

As his eyes began to open slowly, he could start to feel the cool cotton bedsheets underneath his fingertips and…the lack of a warm body lying next to him.

Sherlock lifted his head up with a quizzical brow and surveyed the room, it didn’t take his deduction skills to solve the puzzle though as he could hear Molly’s and Evie’s voices travelling through the closed bedroom door.

“Evie, honey, have some more water,” Molly coaxed at her sleepy daughter sitting on the sofa. She sat back against the back of the sofa with her legs stretched out, watching through the glass door at the birds swooping down to nibble on the bird feed they had left out on their small balcony.

As Molly passed her daughter her sippy cup she took another bite of the peanut butter covered apple slices she had prepared them for breakfast. They both were tired this morning…

“Hmm…mystery of the missing shirt solved.”

Molly blushed before looking up at Sherlock wearing his jeans and black hooded jumper, his feet bare. She then looked down to adjust his shirt by tugging it down slightly to cover her underwear as she sat with her legs folded to her side. Sherlock’s hand gently coaxed her chin up as he bent down to kiss her softly good morning, before then lowering himself to the floor, his back leaning against the sofa.

He laughed as Evie reached out and patted his curls. He caught one of her hands gently and pressed a kiss to it, “Good morning, Evelyn.”

To his surprise, Evie leant forward and pressed a kiss to the top his head, brushing his curls as she did so. Sherlock turned silent, needing time to process this new greeting from her.

Molly distracted herself from getting anxious about Sherlock’s need to process their new interaction, by passing Evie a couple of chunks of sliced banana as her gaze returned to the birds squabbling over the seeds.

“Coffee?”

Molly’s eyes widened slightly and she stopped mid-chew of a piece of banana herself. Sherlock raised his eyebrow expectantly with a small smile, knowing full well he had surprised her. She gave a hum and nod of the affirmative, keeping her mouth closed before her eyes followed him as he stood and walked coolly to the kitchen.

Her eyes then swung around to Evelyn, pulling forward from her recline on the sofa, abandoning her sippy cup before lowering herself carefully to the carpet. She then quickly travelled in the direction of the kitchen.

“’lock!”

“Clever girl! You followed me, didn’t you?”

Molly smiled as she heard Evie’s laughter, the sound of which distracted her from her swirling thoughts of what, if anything, would happen next between herself and Sherlock.


	2. Caught Napping

“Oh, oh…oh!” Molly’s head fell back, a few tendrils of hair sticking to her forehead, at the relentless pleasure flowing through her body. Her knuckles on one hand were turning white from their tight grasp over the edge of the kitchen counter, whereas her other hand was seeking desperately for space to fall on his mid-back.

“Yes…” Sherlock whispered victoriously as he heard Molly desperately muffle a cry after shifting her open legs wider by sliding his arm underneath one of her bent legs to pull her closer to him. “…ssh…ssh…” he whispered as he pressed a couple of light kisses to her lips.

At the feeling of her clenching, his head then dropped down to the curve of her shoulder as he continued to thrust into her, restraining himself with effort from letting go before she peaked. Molly started to pant slightly as she tried desperately to breath in vital oxygen, however it proved difficult as he was consuming her…body and mind. Her legs started to tremble and she groaned loudly, clenching her teeth desperately together to prevent from shouting out as pure pleasure and relief spread through her body.

Sherlock felt her climax and with her body soon becoming limp from exertion, her legs slipping down from being akimbo, he wrapped an arm around her torso and thrust deeply into her, emitting a low groan as he gave into his release.

Molly cradled his head against her bare chest, his ear pressed near her rapidly beating heart as they caught their breaths.

“Remind me to invite you round when Evie’s napping in the future.”

He chuckled at Molly’s breathless comment before disentangling himself from her. As he straightened up, his muscles slightly strained from their most recent activity, he couldn’t resist bending down once more and giving Molly Hooper a thorough kiss.

…

Two days later…

…

“…are you even listening to me, Sherlock?”

John grumbled as he turned around to see Sherlock’s gaze glued to his phone, paying no attention to his words of concern about the new lead in the case.

“Hmm?...Nope.”

John sighed audibly as Sherlock’s lips smacked together on the ‘p’ of his negative response and rolled his eyes. “Lestrade wants us to meet him at Barts in half an hour.”

“I’ll meet you there.”

“What?...Why?”

“Need to visit a…potential new lead.”

“What lead?”

Sherlock smirked, “Somebody’s been caught napping.”

John’s brow furrowed.


	3. Leverage

“A three soon turned out to be a firm seven.” Sherlock stated as he entered the apartment. “Even I was slightly caught unawares of how searching for a stolen penguin from London Zoo would lead to a gang of rogue animal trainers, teaching creatures to infiltrate premises and steal goods with mild success. I’ll take you and Evie this weekend to look behind the scenes and feed the animals.”

“Hmm?” Molly didn’t look away from her laptop in front of her, pages of students’ dissertations in front of her. She’d offered to do this for Mike, who seemed to be drowning in the paperwork this month. Continuing to look at the screen seemed a lost cause however, as she could not concentrate on the task…

“Zoo. This weekend. My treat.” Sherlock shrugged off his Belstaff coat and folded it over the back of the sofa, bending down and tilting his head to the side to give Molly a kiss on her forehead, before striding into the kitchen.

Molly counted down mentally, 3…2…-

“Why has my brother been here?”

“Oh…yeah…that…” Molly said with forged vagueness in her voice, reaching forward to the coffee table for her large glass of wine.

“Hm.” Sherlock grunted in return, walking towards her as he undid his cuffs and rolled up his sleeves.

“Oh y’know…the usual.” He merely raised an eyebrow in response, which prompted her to continue. “The whole ‘I’ll pay you to tell me information about my younger brother’ spiel.”

“And?”

Molly took a swig of her wine and moved her laptop to the side as he joined her on the sofa, “And what?” Sherlock looked knowingly at her. “Oh for heaven’s sake, he made me promise not to tell you.”

“Judging by the empty butter wrapper and icing sugar bag in the bin and the number of crumbs on the worktop, you don’t need to.”

“How long were you in there? And a lovely way to point out my avoidance of cleaning today, by the way,” she chuckled.

Sherlock reached out a tucked a piece of hair behind her ear. His eyes searched hers for a few beats before whispering, “Molly?”

Molly swallowed uneasily before leaning forward to place her wine glass back on the coffee table. “He umm…he had some concerns.”  
He sighed audibly, “My overbearing-“

“Concerns about…what this,” Molly couldn’t seem to get the words out and instead opted for gesturing between them.

“It’s none of his business.” Sherlock stated with a single shrug of his shoulder.

She gave a solitary nod, “Yeah, I agree…but…but what if…” Observing her eyes become slightly glassy and an increase in her heartrate, Sherlock moved ever closer to her. “If ever…somebody…someone…was to use us…Evie and I…as leverage-“

“No.”

“-I couldn’t…I couldn’t forgive myself…if anything happened to her…to you-” A single tear ran down Molly’s cheek to which Sherlock responded to cradling her face in his palms.

“That’s not going to happen.” He whispered with fierceness, his eyes wide and beseeching. “I would never allow that to happen.” Molly sniffed and breathed out shakily. Sherlock leaned forward and pressed a lingering kiss to her lips. He drew away slightly, only to rest his forehead against hers. “I will obliterate anyone that even thinks about, let alone getting close to, meaning you and Evie harm, understand?”

Molly pressed a shaky kiss to his lips before wrapping her arms around his shoulders.

…

…

“Mummy?”

“Yes, honey-bee?”

“Why…dark?”

Molly quickly threaded Evie’s pyjama-clad arm through the sleeve of her thick grey peacoat as she answered, “Because it’s night time.”

“But…but…we not sleeping?”

Molly’s hands trembled slightly as she quickly tried to do up the buttons, “Err-“

“Unc-a Greg!”

“There’s my favourite girl!” Greg replied with a small smile, but much exuberance and gave her a one arm hug as she wrapped her arms around his legs.

“Why not sleep Unc-a Greg?”

Molly brushed her loose hair back with her hand away from her face and grabbed Evie’s favourite soft toy and a bedtime story book, quickly stuffing it into her bag.

“Well, we’re going on an adventure…you’re going to help me solve a case.” Greg added at the slightly dubious look Evie gave him…something she must have picked up from all that time spent with Sherlock, he thought.

“Sir,” Sergeant Donovan gave a nod towards the door to the apartment.

“Right, you stick with Mum,” Greg instructed and lifted Evie up into Molly’s arms.

“’Queen bee’ is a go, I repeat, ‘Queen bee’ is a go.” Donovan barked down her walkie-talkie as they left the apartment.

After descending the stair well to the main communal entrance to the complex, they suddenly stopped as a loud interference crackle sounded from Donovan’s communicator.

Greg immediately opened a cleaning stock cupboard and guided Molly and Evie in while Donovan stood outside, “Repeat…Jones, what is your position? Over.”

Sensing the unease, Evie began to fuss, “Mummy…mum?”

“Ssh, ssh…” Molly soothed and stroked her hair. Suddenly, she gasped as a torrent of gunshots sounded.

Evie began to wail.

There was a pause before another onslaught of gunfire could be heard.

Molly struggled to keep hold of Evie, who in her fear, rather than keeping hold of her mum, was flailing about.

“God dammit!” Greg exclaimed and drew his own gun out from his holster, and tightened his grip on the cupboard door handle.

“…officers down, officers down…” Greg could hear emitting from his own walkie-talkie.

“Donovan! Get your arse in here, now!”

“Jones, come in – has the threat been neutralised? Over.” Greg heard Donovan communicate.

“That was an order!” Greg roared at the door, braced to open it quickly to allow his colleague to slip in.

There was a few beats.

“…confirmed…threat secured and neutralised. Over.”

Greg let out a short pant of relief and gave a small smile to Molly.

“It’s okay, Evie, ssh…ssh…it’s okay…”

“M-m-mummy!” Evelyn continued to sob.

Greg opened the door and gave a solitary nod to Donovan. “Clear for ‘Queen bee’?”

“Jones – clear for ‘Queen bee’? Over.” Donovan communicated, her sharp façade breaking slightly at the sight of a tear-stained Evie continuing to clutch onto Molly.

“Affirmative. Over.”

As Greg, Molly and Evelyn emerged from the cleaning supply cupboard, loud footsteps could be heard approaching them and they turned to see Sherlock and John running towards them.

At the sight of him, Molly allowed her seemingly strong front to break and covered her mouth to muffle her cries.

“D-daddy! Daddy!”

Sherlock encircled them both with his arms, pressing numerous kisses on their heads and cheeks, “It’s okay…it’s okay, now…” He lifted the weight of Evelyn away from Molly and held her against his side as she wrapped her arms around his neck. Molly fell against his other side, clutching the lapels of his coat tightly as he wrapped his other arm around her and pulled her tightly against him. “I’ve got you…I’ve got you…”

…

“Kind of ironic though, isn’t it?” There was no rebuff to her question. “Mycroft was concerned about how we could be used as leverage to hurt you, when actually we were used as leverage against Mycroft.”

Molly sat on the chair next to Sherlock, turning towards her side to face him as he sat facing the table head on.

At his continued silence, Molly broke the tense atmosphere with a sarcastic comment, “I’ve known stranger reactions to guys being called ‘Daddy’ for the first time.”

Sherlock scoffed, “That is not-“ His grumbled low voice cut off as his voice broke.

She watched concerned as his hand shook as he lifted the short of whisky to his lips, letting out a hiss as the liquid burned down his throat, before smacking his lips together. She wrapped her fingers around his clutching the glass as he lowered it back to the table, “Sherlock?”

“He…he had photographs. Photographs of you…you, Mycroft and Evelyn…he baited me with them…goaded me…like they were-“

“You won.” Molly murmured and stroked his exposed forearm, his sleeves rolled up.

“…I had to…to…to act like you didn’t mean anything-“

“You protected us. You won.” Her other hand reached up to cup the side of his face, her thumb stroking his cheekbone.

“I can’t…I can’t go back…I can’t go back to…to not feeling…to suppressing my feelings towards you…I can’t.”

“You don’t have to.” Molly whispered.

“But how else can I keep you safe?” He retorted with a tremor in his voice, looking at her straight in the eyes. “How else can I guarantee yours and Evelyn’s safety?”

Molly gave a slight shake of her head and a smile before leaning in and whispering against his lips, “By being Sherlock Holmes.”

…

Sherlock’s long fingers drew lazily on Molly’s bare back as she lay on her side facing him. Her hair was loose, fanned back against the pillow and her arms folded inwards, her hands close to Sherlock’s chest. He stared mesmerized at her face, cataloguing any movements in her facial expressions as she slept soundly…a flicker of her eyes under their lids, the parting of her kiss-swollen lips…

He was soon distracted however by the illumination of his phone, lightly brightening the room as he received a message. Rather than turn over and check the device, which he’d left on the beside table, he’d already deduced it was a warning message from John that he was returning Evie. Sherlock silently and skilfully unravelled himself, ensuring not to disturb the bedsheets from Molly’s slumbering form as he exited the bedroom, grabbing his spare dressing gown from the back of the door.

There was a soft tapping on Molly’s front door as Sherlock lazily sipped his black coffee.

“Alright, mate?” John whispered as the door opened to reveal Sherlock. He gave a small smile and a single nod in response, his eyes drawn to Evie, nestled into John’s side, her head lolling on his shoulder. “Fell asleep in the car ride over. Mary’s got the car running outside…I’ll catch you tomorrow.” John said, his voice still hushed, as he passed her across to Sherlock’s arms.

As the door shut and Sherlock slid the lock back to place, he pressed a kiss to Evie’s forehead. The jostling of moving from one set of arms to another had stirred her from slumber. She yawned and rubbed one of her eyes. “Mummy?” she asked in confusion.

“It’s your Daddy, honeybee,” Sherlock murmured back as he walked her down the hallway, “We’ll say goodnight to Mummy.”

Sherlock pushed the door to Molly’s bedroom wider open to see she had since rolled onto her back, one arm tossed above her head whilst the other rested on her waist, the sheet pulled up to cover her chest. He slowly lowered an exhausted Evelyn onto the bed next to Molly and she scooted forward to press a kiss onto her Mummy’s cheek before whispering, “Night, night, Mummy.”

Molly hummed, her eyes opening sleepily and she reached out to stroke her daughter’s hair softly, “Night, honey,” she whispered.

Molly’s arm fell onto the bed as Sherlock lifted Evie and carried her through to her bedroom.

The next thing she could sense was his arms encircling her waist and a long, firm kiss to her shoulder as Sherlock curled his body around hers.

“I love you, Sherlock.”

Molly had not expected to receive any reaction to her confession, knowing that even though Sherlock had progressed immensely with accepting human emotion and feelings, the journey to expressing love towards somebody was in the far distance. Her heart skipped a beat, however, as his hand skimmed over to grasp her left and he pressed a delicate kiss to palm.

As she drifted off to sleep, a content smile on her face…oblivious to Sherlock calculating the size of her fourth proximal digit.


	4. 'Tis the Season

“…she should be a Holmes!”

“Mother…”

“Now you hear me, William Sherlock Scott Holmes, I will not rest on this subject for the entirety of your stay here over the Christmas period, until you give me the answer I’m searching for.”

Sherlock rolled his eyes and bit into a mince pie, if anything, to stop himself from saying something his Mother would deem ‘out of line’.

Mycroft ground and lifted his head from his folded elbows, “How is it only the twenty-third? It’s been Christmas for at least a week now.”

“Our guests should soon be here.” Mr Holmes chirped up as he walked through to join them in the kitchen.

“Miss Hooper and Little Miss Hooper we’ll be joining our company in no less than twenty-one minutes, Father.”

“Hmm…twenty-nine.”

“How so?”

“Your phone screen illuminated at 10.44. It takes an average of fifty-four minutes to drive down to Oxshott. Your drivers inform you when they leave with their intended passengers.”

“Which would make it eleven thirty-eight when our guests arrive. Like I said in twenty-one minutes, Sherlock.”

“Hmm…no.”

Mycroft sighed and asked exasperated, “Fine…what have I missed?”

“Oh no, no…we’ll wait and see, shall we?”

“Sherlock.”

“It’s the Christmas break, Mycroft. The A3 isn’t going to have ‘usual traffic’, as much as Google Maps dictates it does.”

Mycroft ground his teeth together in response, making Sherlock smile.

“Are you sure this much food is necessary? We’ll be eating a feast on Christmas Day as it is!” Mr Holmes asked as he looked at the saucepans of peeled and chopped vegetables boiling and the fan oven illuminated with a large joint of meat roasting.

Mrs Holmes gave Mr Holmes a gentle whack on his chest with a wooden spoon in response, “Our youngest son has invited his girlfriend and her daughter to join us for Christmas.”

“Yes...?” Mr Holmes trailed off with a confused tone.

She then turned her husband’s cheek so that his gaze would be centred on Mycroft, tapping away at his laptop…again.

“Need I say more.” Mrs Holmes stated with a finality in her tone.

“No, dear.”

Mr Holmes gave his wife an affectionate kiss on her cheek before taking his leave from the kitchen, a warm glass of mulled wine in his hand. He gave Sherlock a solitary tap on his shoulder before walking through to the lounge.

…

“I collected it from the jewellers yesterday. Resized to the measure you wanted.” Mr Holmes said in a hushed voice as he reached up to slide a large text on experimental physics from the shelf. He passed it over to Sherlock to hold, “Your Mother wouldn’t think to pick up this text when she knows it already…and more.”

Behind the text’s hiding place was the small box. He exchanged the box for the book to return to the shelf.

Sherlock popped the box open and looked down at the ring nestled inside.

“It was my mother’s. 2.03 carat emerald-cut diamond, and four additional French-cut diamonds neighbouring. Made by Tiffany and Co. around 1925 the jeweller estimates…sounds about right to me.” Sherlock’s father said as he examined his son’s reaction. At his younger son’s continued silence and stare, he asked, “Will it do the job then?”

“Hmm?”

“Molly. Do you think she’ll like it?”

Sherlock cleared his throat and popped the ring box close again, “Yes…yes I think she will.”

“Good lad.” Mr Holmes said with a smile and patted him on the shoulder jovially as he passed him.

“But…I…” Mr Holmes turned around at his younger son’s murmuring. “Will it be enough?” Mr Holmes raised his eyebrows at the suggestion and Sherlock quickly backtracked. “Not…not that…will I be enough?”

Mr Holmes smiled, “William…she loves you, yes?” Sherlock nodded. “And she’s said this, has she?” Again, Sherlock nodded. “And her little girl, Evelyn…she loves you too, yes?”

“She calls me ‘Daddy’.”

Mr Holmes’ heart warmed at the admission, which soon would have come to light with Evelyn’s imminent arrival, he was certain. It was heart-warming and humbling for his introverted son to share such an intimate fact with him.

“And tell me…do you ever go a day, an hour, without thinking of her?”

Sherlock looked into his father’s eyes and answered with conviction, “Not a minute.”

…

“Daddy! Daddy!”

Sherlock quickly caught and lifted the running little girl into his arms, “Evelyn…oh, I’ve missed you! Where have you been?”

“London.” Evie chirped back.

“Hmm…” Sherlock hummed and pressed a kiss to her cheek, smelling in her warm scent. “I like your jumper, Evie.”

“Aunty Martha.” Evie replied, stretching the fabric of the jumper down to showcase the design of the polar bear with a scarf around its neck.

“Of course, the notion of a polar bear requiring a scarf in its natural habitat is obtuse to say the least.”

“Mike!” Evie clapped as she announced his arrival.

“Yes, good morning, Evelyn. I trust the journey from your residence was pleasant.”

Evelyn giggled into Sherlock’s neck in response, not comprehending Mycroft’s words, which made Sherlock smirk…goldfish…

“Mycroft, oh for heaven’s sake – assist Miss Hooper with her bags.” Mrs Holmes called out as she emerged at the porch.

“It’s no problem, Mrs Holmes, really.” Molly piped up as she finished stuffing away Evelyn’s blanket, toy and book from the car journey in her large handbag.

“Oh, nonsense! Mycroft is just standing there…he can make himself useful, can’t he?”

Mycroft scoffed and looked at Sherlock standing next to him. Sherlock shrugged a shoulder and gestured with his eyes to Evie in his arms. Mycroft rolled his eyes and trudged over to the car.

“Hi,” Molly murmured with a smile and lent up on her tiptoes to give Sherlock a chaste kiss, “Surviving so far?” she asked almost inaudibly.

“Hmm…just.” He teased and gave her another quick kiss.

A clearing of a throat caused Molly to rock back onto the flat of her feet. Mrs Holmes looked expectantly at Sherlock.

“Oh yes…Molly, this is my mother.”

Mrs Holmes surged forward in excitement, “Oh it’s so wonderful to meet you at last! I was absolutely delighted, no, no, overjoyed that you accepted our invitation to spend Christmas with us. I never thought this day would come-“

“Mother,”

“…if anyone would have told me that someday Sherlock, would ever bring a woman home to meet us, well I would have said-“

“Dear?”

“…we gave up on our hope for Mycroft long ago. And Sherlock well…after what we’d heard along the grapevine about his long term residence with John, we half expected him to turn up with some bl-“

Evie giggled at the seemingly never-ending ramble which ironically actually stopped Mrs Holmes’ torrent of words.

Molly blushed and gave out a relieved laugh that the woman’s excitement had paused. “Umm…Mrs Holmes, I’d like to introduce you to my daughter, Evelyn. Evie for short.”

Mrs Holmes’ eyes started to well up with unshed tears, “Well…she is…she is-“

“A stunner, that’s for sure.” Mr Holmes piped up as he stood next to his wife in the driveway in front of the house, looking at the little girl at ease in Sherlock’s arms. “Going to break a few boys’ hearts when she’s older, I reckon.”

“Well…hello there, Evie.” Mrs Holmes whispered in awe, her eyes flickering everywhere cataloguing the little girl’s soft, petite face, her loose ringlets falling to her shoulders and her warm, chocolate eyes.

“Evie – this is Mr and Mrs Holmes.” Molly said, placing a hand on her daughter’s back.

Evie gave a wave and replied with a smile, “Hello.”

Both Mr and Mrs Holmes gave a short burst of a laugh. Mrs Holmes wiped the underside of her eyes, “Oh please…come in, come in…you must want to get her comfortable after that journey.” They led Sherlock, Molly and Evie back into the house, not before Mrs Holmes jutted her head out of the door and shouted out to Mycroft, “Oh do get a move on, Mycroft!”

…

“We’ve put you all in Sherlock’s old bedroom, if that’s alright with you? Thought it best if the little one gets a bit confused with unfamiliar surroundings.”

“That’s lovely, thank you.”

“Mycroft should be along to pop your bags up here soon…well I say soon.” Molly laughed. “I’ll leave you to freshen up a bit.”

“Thanks again.”

Once Mr Holmes had closed the bedroom door behind him, Molly collapsed onto the large double bed with a sigh. Her eyes closed and her arms spread out, she jumped as she heard the catch of the door.

“Oh…you scared me!”

“Are you that exhausted after conversing with my parents for two minutes?” Sherlock smirked, carrying in her bags. Mycroft must have spat the dummy out at the bottom of the stairs.

“…yes…” Molly said timidly. Noticing the lack of a small child in his arms, Molly asked, “Where’s Evie?”

“Downstairs. Charming my Mother and Father to no end.”

“Hmm…” Molly hummed and closed her eyes again as she lay back on the bed.

A few beats passed before she felt the bed dip and Sherlock’s breath fanning over her face. Her eyes remained closed in contentment as she felt his finger travel across her cheek and outline her lips. Her lips turned upwards to a smile and she playfully pulled back, her head pressing down into the bed, at the slightest touch of his lips ghosting against hers.

Sherlock watched as she opened her eyes, her pupils retracting as they adjusted to the light. “I missed you,” he admitted honestly, his voice a soft whisper.

“It was only a couple of days,”

He shook his head lightly and he cradled her head as he murmured, “It was too long. I…couldn’t…I couldn’t think with you not around.”

Molly’s breath caught.

“Oh please,”

Sherlock turned to face the door and Molly pulled herself upright at the sound of the unwelcome drawl.

Mycroft dropped the rest of Molly’s bags as he said forlornly, “You’ve only been here eight minutes and you’re already slobbering all over each other.”

Sherlock growled as Molly retorted, “Biscuits, Mycroft.”

Mycroft’s interest peaked and asked, “What about them?”

“No longer yours.”

Mycroft and Molly engaged in a length stare…the “ice-man” breaking first with a single nod of “well-played” before turning on his heel back out of the door.

“God, I love you,” Sherlock moaned and Molly gave a little shriek of laughter before his lips covered hers.

Mycroft paused in his steps down the staircase and raised his eyebrows, letting out a long sigh as the sounds of Sherlock and Molly’s…interactions…reached his ears.

…

“Mummy!”

“Hi, honeybee,” Molly murmured as she walked into the sitting room, tucking an unruly strand of hair behind her ear.

“Evelyn was just telling us about her sunflowers.” Mr Holmes said as he sat on the sofa. Evie sat cross-legged in between Mrs and Mr Holmes, her boots on the floor in front of the sofa.

“Oh, yes?”

“Yes, you were, weren’t you?” Mrs Holmes mused and stroked the little girl’s ringlets behind her ears. Evie’s gaze was fixed on a large pinecone in her hands.

“Why don’t you tell your mummy, what you have there then?” Mr Holmes encouraged her.

“A seed.”

“That’s right, good girl.” Mr Holmes praised, before continuing, “I was thinking-“

“Never a good idea.” Mycroft muttered from his place, sat in an armchair, staring at the hearty fire in the fireplace.

“-this afternoon, we could walk out to the forest and have a look for some more.”

“What do you think?” Molly asked Sherlock as he walked through with a cup of juice for Evie.

“Did you bring Evie’s coat, scarf and mittens with you?” Sherlock enquired as he held out the cup to Evie.

“Thank you, Daddy.” She replied as she placed the pinecone on her lap and reached out with both hands to securely hold the cup.

“You’re welcome, sweetheart.”

“Yes, they’re upstairs in the…” Molly trailed off uncomfortably at the stares of Mycroft and Sherlock’s parents now on them.

“Oh, Sherlock…” Mrs Holmes began to cry.

Evie looked up at her in concern and confusion as she began to dab her eyes and blow her nose on her handkerchief. Mr Holmes gave the little girl a one-arm hug in reassurance, his eyes watery himself.

“Yes, yes…” Sherlock gave an irritated huff, before continuing, “Evelyn calls me Daddy. Has done for a couple of months now. Can we just…please…move on?”

“A walk this afternoon sounds lovely.” Molly said firmly with a wide smile, getting the subject of the conversation back on track and reverting attention back away from Sherlock.

“Yes…yes…oh, I must check on the food.” Mrs Holmes said hastily. She couldn’t refrain herself from giving her youngest son a fond pat on the cheek with a watery smile before he pulled away in haste.

“Let me help you.” Molly offered.

Once they had left the room, Mycroft muttered, “Sherlock, in your haste to come back downstairs, you have misaligned the buttons on your shirt.”

Sherlock looked down and muttered, “…thank you, Mycroft.”

“No, thank you…brother, mine.” Mycroft smirked devilishly. Sherlock inwardly groaned at the thought of Mycroft using this for entertainment purposes later.

Mr Holmes simply chuckled before walking towards the kitchen himself, “At last…one of my sons, doing something remotely “normal” in their bedroom!”

Sherlock and Mycroft stared at each other.

…

Evelyn’s excited laughs bounced off the trees as she ran through the thick layer of fallen, crisp leaves and branches.

“Evie, be careful sweetie,” Mrs Holmes called out as she watched Evie press against a large tree and jump up and down against it, trying to reach the lowest branch.

Mr Holmes jogged over to her, “Here we go, one, two, three-up!” he said as he lifted her underneath her shoulders to allow her to touch the lowest branch with a giggle.

“Oh, do watch your back,” Mrs Holmes scolded him lightly, unable to bring herself to be too firm at the sight of Evie enjoying herself.

“Well would you look at that – be careful not to touch mind, Evie…but what can you see?” Mr Holmes asked, catching sight of the edge of it from his view on the ground.

“Nest! Nest! Birds sleeps here,” Evie replied enthusiastically as she saw the woven branch nest lying on the branch.

“That’s right,” Mr Holmes groaned softly as he lowered her back down to the ground, his back creaking, “We must be careful not to touch their bed, they like it just a certain way.” Evie nodded in understanding.

There was a beat.

“Where’s Mummy?”

Mrs Holmes looked up from adjusting her hold on the carrier bag holding their lot of pine cones at the little girl’s question. “Ah…well she was…”

“And Daddy?”

Mr Holmes looked around and scratched his head in confusion at the lack of seeing either of them and reassured Evie, “They’ve just gone for a walk-“

“Oh!”

He paused at the sound of his wife’s breathless sigh and caught her looking off to the side. He followed her gaze and beamed as he could see Sherlock and Molly in a sunlit clearing of the forest not too far away from them. He caught sight of his son just standing up from bending down on one knee to embrace Molly.

“Hi Mummy! Hi Daddy!” Evie shouted out as loud as she could with her glove-covered hands waving high in the air.

Molly disconnected her lips from Sherlock with a sniff and still clutching onto him with one hand waved back at her daughter with a wide, watery smile. She let out a soft chuckle at the sight of Sherlock’s parents standing still in shock either side of her.

“Despite how he’s acting, my father knew.”

She turned back to Sherlock…her fiancé…with a breathless sigh, “Really?”

“Hmm…” he hummed and pressed his forehead against hers, his heart beating against his ribcage as he grasped her left hand and slid the ring slowly down her finger, watching as Molly didn’t take a breath as he did so.

“I…wow...I can’t…this…” She couldn’t get the words out. “It’s beautiful…” she murmured and a tear dropped down her cheek, as she admired the ring now adorned on her finger.

Sherlock wiped the tear away before grasping her left hand, enjoying feeling the ring on her finger, and bent down to kiss her again.

…

“…the best Christmas ever!”

“Dear-“

“A wedding! A wedding!”

“Mother-“

“My boy…my son…getting married! I never, ever thought this day would come!”

“Mrs Holmes?”

“Mycroft was a lost cause long ago and I’ve come to accept that.” Mycroft rolled his eyes and went back to consuming his mince pie. “Oh! A spring wedding would be just lovely!” Mrs Holmes announced with a clap of delight.

“Spring?!” Molly spluttered out.

“Dear, don’t you think it’s best-“

“Daffodils!” Mrs Holmes couldn’t refrain from shrieking out in excitment causing Mycroft to drop a piece of his pie onto his plate in shock and glare at his mother as a result. “Molly, your favourite colour is yellow is it, not?”

“Umm…well…” Molly murmured in fear as Mrs Holmes eyes were wide and transfixed on hers in expectation. Thankfully at that moment, Sherlock came through to the living room. Molly darted up from her seat and then practically ran from the room as she called out, “Evie asleep? Lovely. I’m going for a bath.”

Sherlock groaned audibly, “Mother…”


	5. Mothers Day

“…there must be something!”

Molly laughed at his frustration, “There’s not!”

Sherlock growled and then bent down to give Evie a kiss on the side of her forehead. “Evie, help me out here,” he pleaded. Evie smiled around her spoon as she continued to feed herself her tomato pasta.

Molly turned around from cutting up the salad on the countertop to see Sherlock tenderly wiping excess sauce away from Evie’s mouth and hands. A beat passed before she lay the knife down on the board.

“You’re not playing fair…” Molly moaned quietly as Sherlock encased her from behind with his arms, his chest pressed against her back and began to tease her by running his lips enticingly close to her neck.

“You’re the one who’s not playing fair.” He rebuffed quietly and wrapped an arm around her hips, pulling her tightly against him.

“I don’t need anything.”

“It’s not about _needing_ …it’s your birthday…it’s about _wanting_.” He whispered seductively against the shell of her ear.

“Mummy, I’m done.” Evie chirped.

Molly took a shaky breath in before saying, “Good girl, well done.” She untangled herself away from Sherlock’s hold and collected Evie’s empty bowl as she watched her carefully dismount from the chair. “Go and wash your hands please.”

“It’s also happens to be Mothers’ day.”

“Yeah…and I know exactly how you feel about those overly-commercialised days.” Molly said with a smile in his direction as she popped the dirty dishes in the dishwasher.

“Come on, Molly…give me something…” Sherlock said with a defeated tone.

Molly sighed softly and went over to him and looped her arms around his neck, her toes on point to reach up. She looked him in the eyes as she played with her engagement ring on her finger, “Okay…on my birthday…I would like breakfast in bed…with my family.”

Sherlock gave a solitary nod before accepting, “That I can do.”

…

“What the-“

“Please do refrain from swearing, sister-mine…your daughter will be in your presence very shortly.”

Molly gaped at Mycroft sitting bolt upright on the side of her bed. Her eyes then swung round to the many others that had squished into her bedroom, some sitting on chairs carried through from the kitchen and others sitting on the floor…Mary, John, Rosamund, Mrs Hudson… _Greg_.

“How long have you all been here?” Molly said self-consciously as she pulled the sheet up and brushed her unruly bed hair down.

The question went unanswered however as Evie walked through the bedroom door with a small bunch of flowers before clambering up on the bed, quickly followed behind by Sherlock carrying a large tray stacked with various crockery and cutlery.

“Happy Molly’s day, Mummy,”

“Aww…thank you, honeybee,” Molly cooed and wrapped her daughter in a tight hug before smothering her with kisses until she shrieked in delight making their guests laugh.

“Right…okay, help yourselves…we’ve got drinks on the window sill, pastries on the dresser, coffee’s ready to go…” Sherlock announced after placing the tray down on the ottoman at the base of the bed.

“Come on, munchkin,” Mary said as she grabbed Evie off the bed, “Let’s get you fed.”

“I can’t believe you did this for me.” Molly whispered as she drew away from giving a Sherlock a kiss good morning. He had bent down to reciprocate their normal morning greeting after their guests had begun serving themselves with food.

“You said you wanted breakfast in bed with your family.” Sherlock stated with a slight confused tone at Molly’s awe. _He had done what she had asked for, why was she so surprised?_

Molly chuckled and gave a slight shake of her head before pulling Sherlock down for another, _longer_ , kiss.

“Woah, woah, let’s keep it PG around here, alright?” Greg chortled at the sight of Sherlock and Molly’s embrace. “There are children present.” He concluded with an eye in Rosie’s and Evie’s direction. The two young girls, however, not paying any notice continued to chatter and nibble on the carpet.

“Aw…I think it’s _so_ romantic.” Mrs Hudson murmured before taking a bite of her pain au chocolat.

Sherlock put his black coffee on the bedside table before sitting down beside Molly, leaning back against the headboard. Molly adjusted her position so that she sat up propped against him, occasionally bending her left arm back to play with the open collar of his shirt.

For the next couple hours, the room was filled with talking, laughter and eating.

During a moment, where all of their guests were preoccupied, Molly turned slightly towards Sherlock and said almost inaudibly, knowing that Sherlock would be able to read her lips regardless, “You know how I said I didn’t want anything?”

Sherlock gave a nod, his eyes scanning hers as she became hesitant. At her continued silence, he wrapped an arm around her and brought her closer as he whispered, “What do you _want_ , Molly?”

Molly took a shaky breath before reaching up to cradle his cheek, her thumb running along his angular cheek bone before answering…

“Oi, lovebirds, what did I say about keeping it PG?” Greg called out.

Molly drew away with a laugh and a hand up in defence, “Sorry, sorry…”

John’s eyes narrowed as he looked at Sherlock’s frozen stance before moving his gaze minutely to the bed covers. John knew Sherlock well enough to know it was his way of _processing_ … _coping_ … “Right,” John said as he stood up, “Let’s all chip in to get these dishes sorted.”

“I’ll get some hot water running.” Mrs Hudson said as she pulled some washing-up gloves from her handbag, making Greg do a double-take.

“Mrs Hudson, they have a dish washer.” Mycroft stated.

“Pft!” she scoffed, “Nothing like a bit of elbow grease to get the dishes done properly.”

“Rosie, my love, you grab those and…Evie, can you carry those mugs for me please?” Mary said and passed two mugs to Evie as she contorted her own arms to carry the rest.

Mycroft was the last to leave the bedroom, his eyes analysing Sherlock’s still form as he walked towards the doorway. Molly clambered off Sherlock’s legs to close the door shut after him, with a quick “Just going to pop some clothes on,” as she closed the door.

Molly cautiously turned around, biting her bottom lip and met Sherlock’s gaze as he remained sitting on the bed.

Suddenly she placed her hands over her eyes, “Oh God! I shouldn’t have said anything!” she cried out in embarrassment, “I’m sorry! I mean…we’re not even married yet and I said…oh God!...can you not just do that memory delete thing you do?” Molly begged her hands now in front of her.

Her heart thudded against her rib cage as Sherlock pivoted, placed his feet on the carpet and stood up, holding her hands. He remained silent, the sound of Molly’s heavier breathing and the echoes of voices cleaning up in the kitchen filling the room.

“Is that what you want, Molly?”

Molly swallowed nervously, her eyes hesitant, “What?”

“Is that truly…” Sherlock swallowed, “… _truly_ …what you want?”

Molly’s eyes scanned rapidly over his face, before scrunching her eyes tightly shut and clasping his hands with hers afraid of his reaction…his behaviour already uncharacteristic…,“Yes…yes…and I’m sorry, _I’m sorry_ if…if it’s too soon and…you might not even want-“

Her words were cut off by Sherlock’s lips smothering her own.

“I want to give you that.” He growled and pawed at her pyjamas.

Molly yelped between his bruising kisses, “Maybe not now…not _now_ , Sherlock!”

“I want to give you a baby.” He whispered raggedly against her lips.

She smiled widely and stroked his hair, “Really?” she whispered excitedly.

“Yes…yes…yes…” he whispered, pressing a kiss to her nose, her mouth and then her neck.

Molly giggled joyfully. Their teeth connected briefly by accident as he went to join their mouths together once more due to both of their wide smiles.

…

…

Sherlock took the familiar steps of the stairs up to 221b two at a time as only the backlight of his phone illuminated the tall hallway of the traditional London town house.

He shrugged off his coat and tossed it over to his chair beside the fireplace as he typed out a response to the most recent of his infuriatingly stupid clients. _Why did these people question his deductions? It was obvious it was their child minder. How did he know? She shops at Tesco for goodness sake, that explains how-_

Sherlock’s quick thoughts paused as his eyeline levelled with the kitchen counter. His lips pursed as he walked forward.

**_Gon to nanan an popa xx Luf u dadee_ **

He smiled as his eyes took in the stick figures that Evie had drawn next to some tall trees and blue sky. Phone still in hand, he pulled up a blank message: ‘Kiss Evie goodnight from her daddy, would you?’

…

Molly’s slumber was interrupted by the shifting of bed covers. She mewled in disappointment as she felt cooler air infiltrate the cosy pocket of air she had created for herself.

The sliding of a familiar-feeling toned leg between hers made the corners of her mouth turn inwards. The dipping of the mattress as he lowered onto his forearms either side of her torso, and the fanning of his exhaling air over her collarbone caused her heavy eyes to slowly blinker open.

Before her eyes had fully awoken however, he had lowered his head and pressed his lips against hers. Molly breathed in his scent as he slid one of his arms underneath her shoulder blades and pulled her up slightly towards him, his lips not straying far from her own.

Molly mewled in appreciation as she felt his other hand graze down her side. She gasped and gripped his hair a little as she felt one of his digits enter her.

A moment passed before Molly gasped loudly at the sensation of Sherlock fully entering her in one swift movement. Her eyes opening fully, only to be wide in shock.

Sherlock used the hand he’d slid under her to use as an anchor, gripping her shoulder to pull her down to meet his steady thrusts. Molly, only able to gasp and moan due to the sensations running through her lower body, kept her tight hold on his hair with one hand and wrapped her other arm across his back to desperately hold him closer.

“Sh…sher…oh!” Molly cried out, her eyes scrunching up at the overwhelming sensitivity of her body as he continued his relentless pace of thrusts.

Sherlock turned his head to the side and guided her open lips to his, his tongue reaching out to lap at hers before connecting their lips together once more, swallowing her cries.

Molly couldn’t help but disconnect her lips a few moments later as she gasped for air through the torrent of pleasure. Sherlock whispered raggedly in her ear, never faulting in his pace, “Come for me…Molly, come for me…”

“Oh…yes…oh…”

“Let me give you a baby…” he groaned as he felt his self-control fall. He growled as he pressed his hips fully against hers and grunted as he felt his seed ejaculate into her.

“Sher-oh…oh!” Molly wailed as her orgasm ripped through her lower body, her limbs going rigid as she basked in the waves of pleasure running through her veins.

Her heart still pounding, she stretched out her fingers that had been gripping Sherlock’s curls tightly and stroked his hair slowly. She felt Sherlock press a soft, sweaty kiss to the top of her breast in return.

“Just a bit longer,” she begged in a whisper, her voice sore from her cries of delight, as Sherlock began to lift up and away from her. Sherlock admitted defeat as he lowered himself back down, his limbs shaking slightly from exertion. Molly let out a content sigh as she wrapped both her arms around him, relishing in the feel and weight of his toned body on top of hers, “I love you.”

She mewled in discontentment when he did fall away from her body. “I don’t want to squish you,” he grumbled out in explanation before getting up from the bed entirely to go to the ensuite bathroom next door.

Molly smiled as she watched him walk away from the bed, his bare arse, soon disappearing from her eyeline. She lifted the bed covers up and looked down at her bare torso. She pressed her palms flat against her stomach, her engagement ring glinting in the minimal light as she wondered…maybe…possibly…just possibly…they may have made a baby tonight.


End file.
